Today the European Union has the most environmentally friendly arsenal of rules in the world and has done more to tackle pressing ecological problems, such as climate change, than any other major power.
But it has not always been like this. Caring for the environment did not feature in the Treaty of Rome, the document that gave birth to the modern day EU. Yet environmental problems were never far away. Europe’s love affair with the car was moving into top gear, industry was busy belching out pollutants and raw sewage was being pumped into our rivers and seas.

A short video on the role of the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its mission. An agency of the European Union, EEA’s task is to provide sound, independent information on the environment. It is a major information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public. Currently, the EEA has 32 member countries.

Europe selected its new policy makers. They will need to address not only today's challenges but also set in motion policies that will affect Europeans well beyond their five-year mandate. What do they need to do today to make sure that Europeans live well in the future? By taking action at the EU level and tackling environment and climate issues, EU policy makers can actually revive the economy and guarantee our long-term well-being.

2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. In this interview, EEA’s executive director Prof. Jacqueline McGlade looks back at the last 50 years of Europe’s environmental policy and reflects on the challenges that still lie ahead.

Climate change, growing consumption and urbanisation, spiralling resource use and new health risks are just some of the global pressures the world will face in the 21st Century. These are the findings from the Assessment of Global Megatrends, launched in November 2010 as part of the State and Outlook of the European Environment Report (SOER) and now published in a new book version.

This report provides a comprehensive yet accessible guide to EEA indicators. It acts as a reference document providing an overview of EEA indicators, placing them in the context of the wider landscape of European environmental indicators. The report highlights the insights that indicators can provide on progress against environmental priorities. In summary, this report explains ‘what we have, why we have it and how it can be used’.